The Tin Woodsman
by El Chacal
Summary: She was a lost child in the woods when he found her. It would be the second time that he watched over a child after so many years. AU. Sophia does not get turned or shot. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

The Tin Woodsman

By El Chacal

Summary: AU. Sophia did not turn. She is on the run, alone, in the woods and soon finds herself lead by a disfigured war veteran.

Rated T

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except the idea for the story. No infringement is being committed here. Please do not sue.

* * *

Sophia searched high and low to find her way back to the highway but it seemed every direction lead her further away from her intended destination and there were three zombies hot on her trail.

For a moment, she was sure that it was all over for her.

Then three pops rang through the air and the zombies were felled instantly.

Looking around desperately and in fear, Sophia saw no one around until a man dressed in a black suit appeared from behind a tree, a shotgun hanging from a lanyard on his person, an Enfield 1917 rifle in hand and a knapsack on his back. He appeared to be in his 20s so he was fairly young yet he had an aged aura about himself.

Wasting no time in questioning her unexpected good fortune, Sophia ran straight to the man until she found herself in his arms. When the adrenaline in her subsided, Sophia noticed that the left side of his face was covered by a tin plate fashioned with a semblance of what his face looked like.

"What's your name?" He spoke in a gravely voice.

"Sophia." She said weakly. "Who are you?"

"Richard Harrow." He replied before looking around momentarily. "Come with me. It's not safe out here. My camp is nearby."

With Sophia's hand in his, Richard led her through the woods until they reached a small clearing in the woods where a tent was set up and a campfire. A large German Shepherd dog with a clipped ear and dark fur sat languidly beside it. Leading her inside the tent, Richard made up a cot for Sophia to rest on.

The dog peaked it's head in and barked softly to Richard who said, "I'll put the fire out. Keep her company."

Sophia watched as the dog walked up to her and sat down next to her cot as Richard extinguished the fire. A few minutes later, he brought back a pot of stew he had been cooking outside.

Pouring some into a bowl, Richard handed it to Sophia. "Eat. You must be hungry."

It had felt like forever since Sophia had a real plate of food. That was why Richard thought nothing of her digging in as though there were no tomorrow. "Thank you."

Glancing over at the dog who had plopped down between her cot and Richard's, Sophia asked, "What is his name?"

"Howard." Richard said. In truth, it took a long time before he found out the dog's name. Going back to the woods where he almost never came back from, Richard found a severed dog collar. The dog's name was Howard.

Howard, much to Richard's surprise, was trained to find survivors out in the Argonne during the Great War after the Armistice had been signed. He snuck onto a cargo ship and sailed from Paris to Atlantic City, where he lived as a stray.

In a way, they were war buddies.

"Has he seen a lot of action?" Sophia asked innocently.

"It appears that you have as well." Richard said. "What were you doing out there all by yourself?"

"I had to run away. Rick said for me to hide and when the coast was clear, I was to run east but I got lost." Sophia said. "My Mom must be worried sick."

"Don't worry, Sophia. I will watch over you. With any luck, we'll catch up with them and I'll reunite you with your mother." Howard barked in reply before licking Sophia's hand almost gallantly. Sophia laughed and kissed Howard on the head. "Get some rest, Sophia."

Once Sophia was asleep under a warm blanket, Richard went onto his cot and retired for the night.

Howard laid down close to Sophia for both protection and assurance.

* * *

The next morning, Richard gave Sophia a snub nosed Colt Detective Special. "Do not use this unless you need to defend yourself. Do not point this at anything unless you fully intend to kill it. Understand?"

Sophia nodded. "Keep it pointed away from you and do not waste ammunition."

"Are you a soldier?" Sophia asked.

"I was." Richard replied. "Served as a marksman during the Great War."

Looking around for a moment, Richard took his scoped Enfield rifle and looked around as if he were looking for any walkers in the distance. Much to Sophia's surprise, not one walker came upon their camp and she had the best night's sleep in a long time.

"Sophia, follow me."

Several yards away, the trio came across a 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan with a shiny coat of black paint. Opening the rear passenger side door, Richard put his weapons and supplies in the back while keeping several of his handguns on his person. When the car was secured and the keys found, Richard opened the front passenger side door to allow Sophia and Howard in.

Richard closed the door and went around to the driver's side door. He got in, closed the door, started up the car and they were off.

"Richard, how did we get through the night without any walkers coming by the camp?" Sophia asked.

"They did not see you or me." Richard said plainly. "I said I would keep you safe. I'm a man of my word."

* * *

A/n: This is my first attempt at a Walking Dead/Boardwalk Empire crossover. I had this idea in my head and I thought that I would be the first one to pioneer such a meeting of the two worlds (Walking Dead & Boardwalk Empire). If this story has potential to go further, please let me know via a review.


	2. Chapter 2

The Tin Woodsman Chapter 2

* * *

Sophia petted Howard while looking out the window at the scenery as the Cadillac Town Sedan rolled down the street. In the light of day, for a moment, everything seemed still and silent as though the outbreak was no more than a bad dream. Then she would see a walker stumbling through a field.

A while later, they arrived at the highway. Richard stopped the car. "What is it?"

"Sophia, listen very carefully. As long as you are in this car, nothing will happen to you. The moment you step out, those creatures will come for you. Understand?"

"Yes." Sophia said as Richard stepped out of the car, reached into the back passenger side to fetch his Thompson m1928A1 submachine gun and his Enfield m1917 sniper rifle. With his rifle slung over one shoulder and the Thompson on a lanyard about his person, Richard walked through the devastated highway as though he were in a battlefield.

While surveying the landscape, Richard came across a car that caught his attention immediately. On the windshield of the car read 'Sophia Stay Here We Will Come Every Day' while on the hood was various rations. Adjusting his glasses so as to keep the mask in place, Richard put them into an empty knapsack.

All of a sudden, a scent caught his attention. Richard looked to the grassy field just nearby the woods and saw what he recognized as a Cherokee Rose. He once heard the tale of the flower and imagined the tears that the flower grew from came from Sophia's mother.

Taking up the Enfield rifle in hand, Richard used the scope to scan the terrain. Everything seemed silent and still.

With the rose and rations in tow while keeping the Thompson at the ready for any walker herds, Richard walked back to the car, put the rations in the trunk and presented Sophia with the white pedal rose.

Having reserved a bottle from the pile of rations before storing the rest in the trunk, Richard handed it to Sophia and she drank it, thankful for the cool liquid being able to slake her thirst. When she closed up the bottle again, Richard started the car up and they were on their way.

Though it seemed tough, Richard managed to weave through the cars and get to a clear road.

* * *

Several months passed by like a dream and Sophia became more capable of felling more than her share of walkers. It helped that she had a U.S. Army marksman and war veteran for a teacher. Throughout the journey, she found herself thinking about Carl and the group. At night, before she went to sleep, Sophia would pray for her mother, Carl and all the others.

In learning how to control her emotions, focus and properly use a gun to kill walkers, Sophia graduated from the Detective Special to the Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless pistol. Since it didn't give too much of a kick when fired, it was a perfect fit for the young girl. It helped that it held more rounds than the revolver.

One day, they came across an abandoned house. Richard was about to get out of the car when he saw four men and a boy about a year or two younger than Sophia storm it. Sophia had decided to take a nap in the back seat of the car. Richard watched the rest of the group that was waiting outside the house through his binoculars. One of the ladies in the group was well along in pregnancy if looks were all he had to go on.

A few minutes later, they went inside the house.

* * *

It had been several months now and everyone was beginning to feel the toil of the travel. Lori's pregnancy, the destruction of Hershel's farm, losing friends and family members and the shortage on rations began to weigh heavy on the group.

Rick looked at them and could not help but to wonder how they were going to get though the day, much less survive to tomorrow if there was one.

He almost broke when he saw Carl start to open a can of dog food. Desperation would drive anyone to do everything that they never imagined themselves capable of doing.

That didn't stop Rick from taking the can out from his son's hand and throwing it across the room in disgust.

Daryl was half way through plucking all the feathers from the owl he poached on the second floor when a shot rang out. T-Dogg was the first one to see two walkers drop to the floor; however, this did not stop the other walkers from advancing towards the house.

Making a retreat out the back way, the group began to make their way to their fleet, killing what stray walkers they had to along the way. Loading up the cars as quick as they could and getting in them faster, Daryl led the way on his motorcycle as they made their getaway. Unbeknownst to them, they were being followed by more than just a horde of zombies.

Since she was asleep for most of it, Sophia did not recognize who was in the cars and didn't spot Daryl on his motorcycle.

* * *

When they got a good distance away from any walkers, Rick and the other members of the group, with the exception of Lori and Carol, came together to talk about what happened at the house.

"Did anyone see a gunman anywhere while we were leaving?" Rick asked. Everyone was already wound up tight without the idea that someone was following them much less that there might be an unseen threat hovering over them.

"No. There wasn't anyone there except for us and the walkers." Daryl said.

"Well, someone shot those walkers while we were in the house and then someone opened fire when we were getting to the cars." T-Dogg said.

"Someone's trying to spook us. If they wanted us dead, we wouldn't have left that house alive." Hershel said, hoping that what he said would assuage their worries.

Meanwhile, in an unseen car parked right behind them, Richard and Sophia watched everything as it happened. She recognized them immediately when they came out of the cars. Just as she was about to run out to them, Richard took a hold of her shoulder and put her back in her seat. "What's wrong, Richard?"

"We can not take the risk."

"That's my group. I know them. If they are here, my mother is too." Sophia said before she noticed something else. None of them noticed that she, Richard and Howard were behind them in the Cadillac Town Sedan. "Why don't they know we're here?"

"They can not see. Or hear us."

"Why not?"

"The living ignore the dead and the undead do not react to the dead."

Sophia felt her heart shoot into her throat. "Am I...?"

"No. You are very much alive." Richard replied.

"Are you?" Sophia asked.

"A long time ago. I should have been. But I'm not." Richard said as though it explained everything, except it did not. They watched as suddenly several women, including one with short grey hair, walked right by them on their way to the stream to collect water.

Richard's gaze was fixed on her especially since Sophia was looking at her directly. "Your mother?"

Sophia nodded. "Please, Richard."

Though he had seen what dangers were outside, Richard knew that Sophia had grown by leaps and bounds under his tutelage. As well, Richard remembered that Sophia was not his own but one he was charged to protect. After a few minutes, Richard exhaled and said, "Do not startle them."

##############################################

* * *

Once Carol and the others had left and it was just down to Rick, Daryl and Hershel, the three men started to discuss the most obvious issues that couldn't be discussed before.

"Rick, she can't take any more of this constant moving around." Hershel said. Everyone knew that the pregnancy would end soon with labor and that was a risk since everyone was now aware of their apparent infection and how it would only kick into full effect upon their death.

"I know that. No matter where we go, walkers keep comin' at us non stop." Rick said, trying to keep himself centered and focused in spite of everything he had to do and everyone who thought he ought to lead him questioning and condemning him for making the hardest calls.

"I ain't no doctor or nuthin', Rick, but the baby Lori's got in her ain't gonna stay put inside because you or any of us want it to. She couldn't even keep Carl in one place at any time. What makes this one any different?"

Rick was about to lose what control he had when he heard a voice behind him say, "Daryl! Rick!"

Daryl and Rick turned around to find Sophia, a dog and a tall stranger armed with a very old rifle slung over his shoulder from a strap and two revolvers in each hand.

"Sophia." Daryl said before putting down his crossbow just in time for Sophia to run into his arms and hug him. The action surprised him but he did not shake her away. Rick forgot everything that was going wrong with himself at the sight of Sophia but then his attention went to the masked stranger and the dog.

"Who are you?" Rick asked.

"Richard Harrow. I found Sophia. In the woods. Kept her safe. Since then." Richard replied.

Rick looked at Richard for a moment before holstering his Colt Python and extended a hand, which was received by Richard. "Rick Grimes. Daryl Dixon and Hershel Greene."

A few nods of the head were more than enough for acknowledgment between Daryl and Harrow but Richard still went and shook Hershel's hand. "How did you get here?"

"By car." Richard said, leading them back to his Cadillac.

Daryl whistled in appreciation when he saw the classic car standing there in mint condition. "How much did you drop to get this, Rich? You don't see this kind of car anymore nowadays."

"It was. A gift. From Bill McCoy." Richard said, recalling a time that the famed ship captain & bootlegger called on Nucky for some backup on Rum Row and Richard went out to assist him. It was Richard that saved McCoy from being murdered on his own ship by high sea bandits.

Rick knelt in front of Sophia and said, "I'm so sorry that I didn't get back to you in time."

"You don't have to apologize, Rick. I was scared and ran." Sophia said, hugging him gently so as to reaffirm to the former Deputy Sheriff that he didn't need to feel burdened with that pain anymore.

"How did you find her, Mr. Harrow?" Hershel asked while petting Howard. It was a long time since he had seen a living animal that was not walker food and he did love dogs.

"I found myself. In the woods. Saw her. Being pursued. I used the Enfield. Killed them. One headshot each. Several yards away." Richard said.

Getting back to his feet, Rick spoke directly to Harrow, "You saved Sophia's life and brought her back to us. For that, we are grateful. I am grateful. I don't know how we or I can repay you for what you've done."

"I spent many years. Trying to find. Myself. Other years. Trying to. Lose myself." Richard said, somehow striking a cord in Rick. "Were you a police officer or a soldier?"

"Soldier."

Rick looked to Daryl and Hershel for a moment before he turned to Richard, "I don't know if you'll find yourself or not but we would be glad to have you with us. Consider it a small token of our appreciation."

Richard looked at Rick and saw in the former deputy sheriff's eyes a look that was all too familiar. Though he and the other two men were strangers to him, Richard knew that he now had another calling and it involved Rick and his group.

Rick Grimes welcomed Richard Harrow with a firm handshake. "It's good to meet you, Richard."

"Thank you, Rick."

* * *

A/n: Did I get Richard's manner of speaking right? Anyway, the first meeting has taken place. The next chapter will have Sophia reunited with her mother and the rest of the group. If the story is entertaining or is progressing well, please be kind to leave a review.


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